[Simon O]

Not knowing much about beekeeping I did not even know these existed but a bee man who is looking to locate his hives locally came to look at our place and says these are what he uses - they provide better insulation so better protection for bees in our wet cold winters, and are cheaper than traditional hives. Anybody use them or know about them - don't see any previous mention on TAS. I would be quite happy to have them in the garden, particularly as they can be painted to blend in. I was hoping to get the bees in to get the benefit of the pollination and a bit of honey as payment, and not having the expense of hive purchase or time to look after them - and perhaps as time went on I could get a bit of advice and instruction and possibly add a hive of my own.

[OhLaLa]

I have no experience of using them (I like traditional wooden hives), but to me they scream out condensation problems. And I doubt whether they would last as long as a wooden hive.

Not for me.

 

[Greenerlife]

My beekeeping mentor is using them for nucs when he collects swarms and absolutely loves them.  Will be overwintering mine in one this winter for sure.  They are cheaper than a wooden hive, but not as cheap as they frankly should be - all they are is recycled polystyrene after all!  Last time I went to Paynes Bees they said it has now become their biggest seller.

[bloomer]

interested in this as bee's are my next expansion into livestock, i had planned on spending my winter in the workshop assembling a wooden kit (if i ever save enough pocket pennies) but the poly kits are a lot cheaper - then i'd only have to spend the winter assembling some frames which seems like a much easier task...


i need to be ready for bee's next may...

[sss]

I trialled one for two years, I have now sold my wooden ones and gone all poly. (apart from my top bar hives).

They are cheaper, so far no problems with condensation. There are pros and cons to them, for me they work.

[bloomer]

sss


if you have time could you list a few of the pro's and con's you have experienced?

[sss]

I started looking at poly hives a couple of years ago. It started as I had a mish mash of wooden hives and I wanted to head to one type. I also wanted to go for one size box as brood and supers.

At the time I knew that I wanted to expand in numbers so I started looking around. As we all know ask 10 beekeepers a question and you can get 14 differing answers in how to look after your bee's or which is the best hive. When I also started in TBH's it is surprising how many can poo poo the idea having never tried it.

Anyhow, when you look round the internet there are a few different poly hives types and styles. So I settled for a Langstroth Poly. Some supplier quality seems to vary but eventually found the one I settled with.

I bought one as a trial and ran it alongside wooden commercials and nationals. They did seem to fair better overwinter than the wood, but not a lot in it. I can not comment on honey production as I had them working hard on drawing wax out on frames and winter stores.

I have found no real cons at this stage.  The only grumble I could think off was the 'green' credentials of wood over poly. That said if you read the manufacturers blurb they will give you there believed figures on oil used to manufacture and how to recycle. That said ply is not always as 'green' as you think it is and cedar can be imported and that can negate its green credentials somewhat.

the only other issue that I was a little concerned with is the cleaning of them. However the national bee unit provides advice on that for poly hives as do the manufacturers.

Oh and nearly forgot, you do have to be a little careful about handling as they do get damaged if you bang them and drop them, but then so do wooden ones.

for me the pro's.

Poly hives have been used for 30+ years now so they cant be all that bad,
Commercial bee farmers use them, if they are doing it as a business again it can not be that bad.
Cheaper which was a big consideration especially when I want to get up into double figures of hive numbers.
They are lighter, which is useful when running an all brood box system, saves the back just a little.
Over winter the cluster seemed more content to move around the stores than they did in the wooden ones.

I only ran both for a year and half so not really long enough to directly compare the two in true research style.

However I have now switched and won't go back to wood.

With regards to condensation, I have not had any problems with that, they do have good ventilation as I run with OMF's open all year round on the hives.

I am now also trialling plastic foundation to go with them. So will see how that goes.

Any questions?

Steve

[bloomer]

Thank you SSS for an awesome reply.


Lots to think about there :-D

[sss]

There is a lot of info out there, some misinformed, some good. It is hard to sort the wheat from the chaff as they say.

Poly vs wood is a bit like the commercial, langstroth, wbc hive type arguments.

There is no perfect hive just different ones.

I would like to provide a better review but a year and half is not very long for a direct comparison in my mind.

If you find someone running poly hives near you then go and have a look and a feel of the kit.

[shygirl]

how heavy are they? would they not blow away if your place is in a windy location? even in the sheltered part of the woods, our place is still very windy in the winter gales.

[Victorian Farmer]

We collect bees and start in these and are very good .I've gone re claimed plastic no problem .I've made 20 and the bees like them we have 24 working hives the plan is to get 10 each spring till we have 60 or so .Its very easey to build the hives the frames from e bay I'll put a pic up of some.

[Rosemary]

Don't try to sterilise them with a blow torch 

[sss]

how heavy are they? would they not blow away if your place is in a windy location? even in the sheltered part of the woods, our place is still very windy in the winter gales.

I live on the windy fens and they are fine out in the open, the old apiary was out in farmers fields on a hill. In the last lot of high winds it was my top bar hives that fell over rather than the poly.

The ones I bought come with a tie down strap to hold the roof on.

[OhLaLa]

How do you sterilise a polystyrene hive, keep it clean and remove propolis without the poly getting rubbed and ruined?

[sss]

How do you sterilise a polystyrene hive, keep it clean and remove propolis without the poly getting rubbed and ruined?

The NBU have some leaflets that include instructions about cleaning poly hives https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/beebase/index.cfm?pageid=167

There is also a bit here about cleaning and sterilizing hives http://www.modernbeekeeping.co.uk/p/assembly-and-use-of-hives